I used light last winter, just enough added on to the day to get 14 hours of daylight that I'd read was needed. I had it come on very early in the morning so that when it switched off, natural light was already present, rather than having the birds plunged into sudden darkness at midnight. It took several weeks for egg production to pick up, but it did. I waited until December to start. I haven't yet decided whether or not to do the same this year. I did notice some weird molting schedules, but I have so many different kinds in my flock, it's hard to pin that just on the light. It seemed like they molted in little groups from September to April. I have noticed that this year, the largest number of my birds, probably 75%, have already molted or are currently molting. I also had a hen go broody in January, a few weeks into the light regimen. I suspect the two are connected. A broody hen in the freezing cold did pose some additional challenges and not all of her chicks survived. Like I said, I still haven't decided on using the light or not this winter. They will get their break, they already have it: egg production has dropped by at least 50% already and I'm still thinking I'll wait until after the equinox to ensure they really do reap whatever benefits the time off will give them. It's so much of a crapshoot with what's "natural." It isn't natural to lay throughout the season without raising chicks at all. It isn't natural to always have access to nutritious food and water throughout the year right at the end of their beaks, either. I'm not sure light qualifies as significantly different than the breeding that's taken place to accentuate their egg production or the conditions we keep them in.
